More foreign students to compete for our children’s jobs—Wow!

Our Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Minister, John McCallum believes that the current immigration policy is shortchanging foreign students. He proposes to give them more points in the express entry category to help them become permanent residents faster.

Being able to speak English and French and “knowing Canada” makes them the most promising group of prospective immigrants according to the minister. To accommodate them, foreign professionals with global working experience will be bumped to the back of the immigration line and our university and college graduates will bow out of their minimum wage part-time jobs in retail and hospitality industries and whoever else will employ them.

The minister (and the Liberal government) hopes to make this noble gesture in response to the repeated petitions of foreign students to give them a leg up in the express entry system. What they have ignored in the process are the desperate cries of our working-age children who are struggling to find jobs (in spite of being schooled in English and French and raised as Canadians) and their parents who now have to work longer to support them. But why should that qualify them for preferential treatment, right? Our focus is on attracting and settling new immigrants. The more we have, the more multicultural and merrier Canadian society will be. Imagine how dull and boring it would get if we only celebrated Canadian holidays and traditions. Or showcased our Canadianness instead of where we came from.

If the minister and his government were in touch with reality, they would acknowledge and adopt measures to alleviate the dismal employment scenario first. Put the house in order before inviting more people to share what is not enough for its existing inhabitants. Perhaps devote a portion of our tax dollars towards reducing post-secondary tuition expenses and making “our” students job ready with expanded co-op opportunities and incentives for employers who hire graduates.

Isn’t it interesting that the “Canadian experience” factor levels the playing field for our kids and foreign students. But wait a minute… the foreign students have a distinct advantage as many are willing to accept lower wages (even less than minimum wage) to get a foot in the door. They are also ready to work longer hours and don’t complain if exploited. Thanks to them some businesses have been able to improve their bottom line significantly, which is encouraging others to follow suit.

If the sole purpose of this government was to increase immigration, they are doing a swell job. However they need to rethink their story-telling ideas.

Many foreign students speak just enough English to get by, French is a far cry. Living and associating mostly with their own communities, they have little knowledge or intention of adopting Canadian ways.
Moreover “education” is a loophole hundreds are using to gain entry into Canada. A friend visiting his daughter at the University of British Columbia was advised by his taxi driver to take advantage of her student status to apply for permanent residency. Family reunification would take care of the rest. I’ve met a few more who proudly testify to using unfair means to avail of this method of entry.

You only have to tune in to ethnic radio and television channels to get an idea of how this opportunity is being exploited. Hundreds of immigration consultants have built their fortunes on getting “students” into the country. They will use every trick in the book to succeed. Once a precedent is set, others learn quickly.

I have nothing against foreign students, except if they take away education and employment spots from Canadian kids.

A closer look might definitely unearth discriminatory policies—but not against foreign students. In order to showcase diversity and inclusiveness many employers will bypass Canadian kids in favour of new immigrants from among the visible minority groups.

Yes, I too am an immigrant. Call me a sour one if you like. My foreign experience was a hindrance I resigned myself to in the hope that my kids would not face the same problem. Only now it seems like they would have been better off if they came in as foreign students. Perhaps I should send them back to India? After all that is where their Canadian upbringing is most likely to be appreciated!

Waleed

You have posted a pathetic and selfish article which is so wrong. Foreign students will not be given points because they know Canada and they speak English or French. The main reason for giving them more points is to give them preference over the foreign workers from other countries who just come here and then enjoy the health benefits and be a burden on the government.

International students will not be stealing your children jobs because by the time we become immigrants, we already have settled jobs with 1 to 2 year experience working in Canada and bear in mind international students getting more points will still not be eligible by working in minimum wage jobs as they are not part of the occupations which give them points.

Lastly your children will still be employed fully as the aging population of Canada will create huge shortage of jobs and with due respect your children in particular will not be getting jobs other than minimum wage because of the negative and selfish mentality you have.

Canada as a country has a very important value of being multi cultural and celebrating holidays of other cultures is not a bad thing but a good thing to do as by being more welcoming and kind will in the end make Canada stronger and that is why Toronto, Calgary have recently been rated as one of the top 10 cities to live in the world.

I hope you change your mindset as it is flawed. The current immigration system is causing these international students to go back to their countries and instead Canada ends up giving immigration to workers who might be having fake work experience and end up being taxi drivers and security guards in Canada.

Stu

I couldn’t agree more with this article. Foreign students, ALWAYS subsidized by foreign money, compete for the same positions. But they don’t need to pay for a house, as this is often covered by their family. They don’t have to pay for a car, their family paid for this as well. Meanwhile they eventually bring the parents over… so it’s not like they are here to improve our demographics with to many old people.
Unfortunately there are not enough positions for everyone. We do need to look after ourselves as well.

Crish

Relax, its difficult to foresee future. Canada is free country and that itself gives lots of options to the kids to grow and be happy. The problem I see is that most of the first generation migrants could not grow out of their definition of sense of security.

It would be interesting to read if a second generation Canadian writes an article about the same subject. That will give us the true picture.

Karandeep

I came here as international student. I have done a four year degree in mechanical engineering and I paid almost 60,000 $ as Tution fee. And now I am making 29.25$/h and I have never worked on cash unlike many Canadians . As per my English proficiency my ielts score is Reading-9, listening-8,speaking -8, writing-7. And I challenge u and ur son to take the test and then u will know. It is easy to talk about others. Moreover my parents had paid my all my Tution fee by investing their life time earnings in my studies. I have been living in Canada for Almost 6 years and I have used my health card only once unlike u immigrant Canadians. And I have not taken any kind of government assistance for anything unlike immigrant Canadians who are fully dependant on community centres for many services. Failure like u only know how to complain not to succeed s